CA - Nikki Catsouras, death photos leaked

[SunnieRN]

She was a young girl who died in a car crash in CA in 2006.
Her death-scene pictures were then leaked all over the internet and sent to her parents and siblings. Very graphic ones. They also taunted the parents by sending texts saying *HI DAD, I am not dead* or *Thanks for the car keys*

This is cruel and heartless. Too bad LE can do nothing about the harassment this family had to endure.

 

[Belinda]

I heard about this story long before I came WS. I was simply horrified by it. It is not enough that her family has had to deal with her horrible death, but then to be deluged by these emails with death pictures is more awful than I can imagine. I feel so very sorry for them. I know if that was my daughter, I would be crazy. How do you withstand that onslaught after trying to come to terms with her death? It defies imagination that anyone could be so cruel to people who are hurting so badly.

 

[Metzgermeister]

The pictures were awful. I cannot fathom the idea of a loved one dying then having to relive their last moments because some *holes keep sending me links to death photos.

 

[Rayemonde]

January 2012:

Ending a 4½-year court battle that rewrote state law, a Ladera Ranch family tormented by grisly accident photos of their daughter on the Internet has settled a lawsuit against the California Highway Patrol for leaking images that went viral worldwide.
The CHP agreed to pay the family of Nicole "Nikki" Catsouras $2.375 million Friday after a judge ordered the two sides to talk ahead of a jury trial scheduled for March, CHP spokesman Fran Clader said.

http://m.ocregister.com/articles/family-337967-catsouras-nikki.html

 

[Rayemonde]

October 2012 - mother publishes book about cyberbullying:

The family was forced to read comments like, “It’s her own fault she’s dead”, “She got what she deserved” and “So a spoiled little (expletive) stole her daddy’s Porsche.”

Those weren’t the messages, however, that compelled Lesli to write a book on cyberbullying called, “Forever Exposed: The Nikki Catsouras Story.”

It was deranged comments like, “I was so happy! I raped her corpse.”

Some people even wrote about masturbating to the horrific pictures.

“That killed me, it destroyed me,” said Lesli.

No matter what the family did to avoid the photos, bullies found a way to post them.

Christos said he saw pictures of the accident in an email disguised as a business link.

“When I clicked on it, it said, ‘Daddy, I’m alive.’ That’s how I first saw the pictures and what was attached to it,” he said.

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012...llying-after-daughters-crash-photos-go-viral/

My God, what is wrong with people??? :banghead:

 

[Rayemonde]

The tale of her journey, in a just-published memoir "Forever Exposed: The Nikki Catsouras Story," is about loss, grief and the larger fight against insidious forces in cyberspace.

It's also an act of courage.

Now that she's published her book, Catsouras knows the trolls will be back...


"I hope this book will send a message to anyone who has taunted or bullied someone online, or is thinking about it. (When you do that) you don't just harm one person ... you can destroy an entire family.

"I'm hoping that with more awareness, things can change," Catsouras, 46, says. "When you say things online, you don't see the consequences."...

esli's husband, Christos Catsouras, 48, recently suffered a mild heart attack. His doctor says stress over Nikki's death and the family's crusade to get her images off the Internet – and the harassment from strangers – contributed to his ailment.

http://m.ocregister.com/articles/nikki-372626-catsouras-says.html

 

[Rayemonde]

July 2015:

Christos Catsouras, whose 18-year-old daughter Nikki was killed, is calling for U.S. officials to adopt the "Right To Be Forgotten."...

hose photos continue to be linked to her name and the names of other Catsouras family members in Internet search results on Google, Yahoo! and Bing, according to Catsouras.

"Since the leak my family has been forced to relive the shock every time the horrific images reappear simply because there are no tools in place to stop it," said Catsouras....

In May 2014, the European Court of Justice ruled that Europeans have the right to request the removal of search engine links from their name to information that is "inadequate, irrelevant, no longer relevant, or excessive", a ruling that advocates say should be adopted in the United States.

http://m.cleveland19.com/19actionnews/pm_/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=od:JUXQDGVS

I have to say, though, the imo the European laws have gone too far... For example a sex offender can have all links to articles about their conviction or offence removed from all search engines, so when you Google their name you find nothing incriminating... All the news articles about their crime have just vanished.

And since in Europe the sex offender registries are not publically accessible, and you can't search court records as you can in much of the usa, you have no way of knowing if your new boyfriend was convicted of child a few years ago or whatever. IMO criminals convicted of violent or sex crimes should not have the right to be forgotten...

But yes, people like this poor deceased girl and her family absolutely should have the right to be forgotten. The law should just be drafted more carefully than in Europe, imo.

 

[dalsglen]

Oh my rayemonde, I loveee that you're going back and following up old threads, but holy s##t, not this one!!! That poor family, how awful to have that out there

 

[Rayemonde]

Oh my rayemonde, I loveee that you're going back and following up old threads, but holy s##t, not this one!!! That poor family, how awful to have that out there

I figured the poor mother wouldn't mind me reviving an old thread to give her side of the story and plug her book, though...

 

[Elainera]

I just did a google image search to see a picture of her ALIVE (only typed in her name) and the first 4 or 5 are all from her in the car ...

 

[Dockins]

I think a lot of new laws will be made due to these kinds of actions. Last year in my hometown, there was a horrific accident involving two teens. Another student happened upon the scene before EMS, and she took photos and posted them to fb immediately. They were as bad as the ones of Nikki. In a town of a few thousand, the parents saw the shared photos before they knew the kids were even in an accident.
I know it isn't the same as what happened to Nikki's family, but it just shows lack of common sense and human decency.

 

[JanetElaine]

July 2015:



http://m.cleveland19.com/19actionnews/pm_/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=od:JUXQDGVS

I have to say, though, the imo the European laws have gone too far... For example a sex offender can have all links to articles about their conviction or offence removed from all search engines, so when you Google their name you find nothing incriminating... All the news articles about their crime have just vanished.

And since in Europe the sex offender registries are not publically accessible, and you can't search court records as you can in much of the usa, you have no way of knowing if your new boyfriend was convicted of child a few years ago or whatever. IMO criminals convicted of violent or sex crimes should not have the right to be forgotten...

But yes, people like this poor deceased girl and her family absolutely should have the right to be forgotten. The law should just be drafted more carefully than in Europe, imo.

In a lot of European countries people arrested for and convicted of crimes aren't named by name in news articles. So the impact of the 'Google law' really isn't that great as far as that goes.

 

[dalsglen]

I figured the poor mother wouldn't mind me reviving an old thread to give her side of the story and plug her book, though...

Actually, you know this thread gave me a brilliant plan for a guy I know and his little sheep followers. Basically he was involved in a high speed crash, which not only paralysed him from the chest down but also killed his friend. He was awarded a few million, and seems to spend it on endless high end superfast cars for his friends to drive about in. In the last two years, two more of their friends have died in high speed crashes. Endless friends been stopped for speeding in his cars. Nothing seems to sink into these stupid wee boys heads, that driving a car far too powerful for them is gonna be fatal. I think I may well share a link of Nikki's accident with him.